Aurora Biofuels
1301 Harbor Bay Parkway
Alameda, CA 94502
Phone:
510.748.4999
About
Aurora Biofuels generates biodiesel from optimized algae in a patented production process. Leading technologists at Aurora Biofuels have developed a cost-competitive, scalable method for fuel generation using robust, highly-productive custom algae strains in open pond systems.
The company is engaged in rapid commercialization of its biofuel product. They have successfully operated a pilot facility that has consistently produced algae biomass since August of 2007, thereby proving the viability of the company’s process. They are currently developing a 20-acre demonstration plant, to be completed in 2009, that will further showcase the company’s ability to produce biofuel at scale. Aurora expects to begin commercial production in 2012.
The Aurora Biofuels process is carbon-mitigating, noncompetitive with agriculture, and capable of industrial yields with a minimal land requirement. In addition, the company is poised to provide dramatic incentives and benefits to a number of industries by allowing carbon dioxide producers to sequester their emissions and convert it to low-cost, oil-rich algae biomass.
Technology
Aurora Biofuels combines the latest in biotechnology and process engineering to create a pathway for the cost-effective mass production of algae based biofuels.
The company’s patented system begins with proprietary biology. Leading scientists at Aurora Biofuels have screened a myriad of strains in search of microalgae that outperform others in terms of oil production and yield. Aurora has further bred its select portfolio to maximize fuel-production performance and to be cost-effective at scale.
Aurora grows its optimized algae in specially engineered open ponds that provide a favorable environment for rapid algae production.
Using a proprietary hydrodynamic design, Aurora has developed pond systems which nurture algae with preferable conditions. These conditions include a carbon dioxide-rich environment with optimal fluid dynamic characteristics. Techniques have been developed to minimize energy demands throughout the growth and fuel production phases of the process. Once extracted, the algae oil is ready for further processing into the end product, biodiesel. And, the remaining algae mass becomes protein-rich animal feed.
The Aurora fuel production process not only provides for cost-effective, large-scale production of biofuel, but it does so in an environmentally beneficial way.
The Aurora process does not compete for agricultural resources. Aurora has a minimal environmental footprint: the system, which is extremely efficient in terms of land usage, uses salt water in its ponds and can be built on unarable land. Compared to sugar-based fuels, Aurora Biofuels can produce an equivalent amount of fuel on approximately 1/25th the land space. Compared to oil-rich agricultural crops, such as soy, Aurora Biofuels’ approach is 70-100 times more productive.
Aurora’s algae feed on carbon dioxide and sequester 90 percent of the CO2 fed into their environment. Because of this ability, Aurora Biofuels will become an important player in the emerging cap-and-trade market by converting carbon producers’ waste emissions into algae feedstock.
The company is actively scaling its technology for industrial production and expects to complete a 20-acre demonstration plant in 2010 and achieve full commercial production in 2012.
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